Halloween Horror Nights stage show wins IAAPA award
“Nightmare Fuel Wildfire,” a bombastic stage show at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights event, was awarded an IAAPA Brass Ring Award during a ceremony in Las Vegas on Sunday.
“Nightmare Fuel” was named the winner in the category of most creative Halloween production. The show, performed exclusively at the after-hours event at Universal Studios theme park, featured music, dance, fire acts, aerial stunts and illusions centered on the dark realm of sleep. It was the highest-rated show in the history of Halloween Horror Nights, IAAPA said.
The Brass Ring Awards traditionally have been announced during the IAAPA Expo at Orange County Convention Center in November. The ceremony shifted to an event dubbed IAAPA Honors 2024, held at the Venetian in Vegas this year. A handful of awards were shared last fall, including to Orlando-based Skyline Attractions, which won for new product with a cost of less than $3 million for its P’Sghetti Bowl roller coaster design.
IAAPA is the shorthand for International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, a trade group based in Orlando.
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Winners of the Brass Ring Awards came from around the globe, including Tokyo DisneySea, which won for most creative spectacle with “Believe! Sea of Dreams,” featuring projections onto the Disney MiraCosta hotel, pyrotechnics, live orchestra and more than 40 dancers and characters, including Peter Pan and Wendy.
Universal Studios Japan’s Magical Creatures Encounter experience won in the most creative atmosphere production category.
Other winners included:
• Most creative theatrical production (annual attendance under 1 million): “A Pluma y Espada,” Puy du Fou Espana.
• Most creative theatrical production (annual attendance over 1 million): “Le Mime et l’Etoile,” Puy du Fou, France.
• Most creative Christmas or winter holiday production: “The NutQuacker,” Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi.
• Best new product (cost of more than $3 million): Hypersphere 360, SeaWorld Abu Dhabi.
• Best family ride/attraction: Vertical Dark Ride, Ride Engineers Switzerland.
• Best water park ride/attraction (product cost of more than $2 million): Saifa, Siam Park, Costa Adeje, Spain.
• Best water park ride/attraction (product cost of less than $2 million): AquaForms 12, WhiteWater West.
• Best new menu item (annual attendance over 1 million): Branded Mixology Program, Hershey’s Chocolate World of Hershey, Pennsylvania.
• Best new menu item (annual attendance under 1 million): Clownfish Cone (soft-serve ice cream in waffle cone shaped like a fish), Vancouver Aquarium.
• Best new food and beverage festival or special event: Bahamas Culinary & Arts Festival from Baha Mar.
• Best new food and beverage building renovation or new facility build: Grand Pavilion, Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio.
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• Best retail visual merchandise display: Eldar’s Specialty Shoppe at Enchanted Kingdom, Santa Rosa, Philippines.
• Best custom retail souvenir: Leviathan’s Surprise Plush Egg, Sea World, Australia.
• Best midway game display: Midway Games at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, California.
• Best patron participation ride/attraction: Krazy Darts, Lasertron, Amherst, New York.
• Top family entertainment center: Hasbro City in Mexico City.
• Best outdoor advertisement: Our Jobs are the *Splat*, Morey’s Piers, Wildwood, New Jersey.
• Best integrated marketing campaign: Uncharted — The Enigma of Penitence, PortAventura World, Tarragona, Spain.
• Best digital marketing campaign: Passport to Summer, Typhoon Texas in Katy, Texas.
• Best social media marketing: Liseberg’s Deadly Sins Horror House 7 Campaign, Gothenburg Sweden.
• Best health and well-being strategy: Dolphin Cares, Dolphin Company, Cancun, Mexico.
• Best innovation in training: Lead/Go, created by SWCo with Water World Colorado.
• Applied technologies: Souvenir Video System, Viewpoint Videos of Thame, England, and Harmony Helper app and concierge service,
• Prizes, plush, retail and food products: Icee Cherry ‘n Blue Razz Ice, Dippin’ Dots.
• Arcade/coin-op games and devices: Over the Edge, Unis Technology.
• Midway games and devices: Classic Inflatable Carnival Games, Magic Jump Inc.
• Virtual and augmented reality: cycloBEAT 3.0 indoor cycling.
• Exhibitions, thematic displays and supplies: Froggy’s Fog Thanos A-1 Fog Blaster.